Karen Lee, Editor-in-Chief
Karen Lee is a senior at Jefferson who has been writing for tjTODAY since her freshman year. Karen decided to join journalism because she likes interviewing people and writing articles. Karen really likes Jane Austen’s books and likes to ponder.
![Art therapist Katherine Pedrick and senior Viola Pande pose for a picture in front of the art therapy banner at the Children’s National Hospital’s annual Sunflower Festival, where Pande distributed the art kits that she made for her Gold Award. “Art is so multifaceted,” Pande said. “Even though I'm doing physical art— and I think physical art is really therapeutic because you are painting or coloring—art can come in many different forms. I’m combining music and physical art in [my Gold Award]. Music has been a really helpful form of therapy for me throughout my high school years and throughout my life in general because I can pour my energy into something that's not school. It’s also creating something [that isn’t] physical or visual.”](https://www.tjtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/viola-image.jpeg)
![New weapons detectors were installed this morning through a pilot program required by Superintendent Dr. Michelle C. Reid after an incident at West Potomac High School. “These threats [have] only happened once, but you can never really know when [it will happen],” junior Laura Moreno Hernandez said. “I think this precaution, if we get used to it, will be [fine]. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”](https://www.tjtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_9022-e1749223594242-1200x727.jpeg)
![Students take taffy from the tables in Nobel Commons. “Get the word out and let everyone know,” principal Michael Mukai said. “We want to share this moment before we go away [for spring break].”](https://www.tjtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_4372.jpg)
![Senior Jason Hao’s group discusses how to solve the math problems for the Jane Street Estimathon, which was hosted on Dec. 4 by the Varsity Math Team (VMT). “I normally go to VMT as my main club,” Hao said. “[The contest] went very well for my team, because we got first [place]. I think it was really fun.”](https://www.tjtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_6412-1200x643.jpg)
![Senior Seoyoung Jun solders the board for her device as a part of her project. “I was like, 'What aids are there on the market that they use?' And I found that compared to [a lot of] other common [conditions], there wasn't much done for them,” Jun said. “It was a lot of the same technology that was used 30 years ago. So, I was like, 'I [should] try to develop something,' so I decided to develop a portable device. And then, I designed a little device that could help them recognize 3-D space.”](https://www.tjtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/416848894_754539082786396_6815936047694996567_n-1200x1110.jpg)
![The new version update to the video game Genshin Impact has many new additional features as well as new characters and quests. The update gives players more information about the characters and explores the world even more. With the release of Fontaine a few months ago, the new update gives players more information about Fontaine and its characters. [Official Genshin Impact Website]](https://www.tjtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/genshin-impact.png)
![“I’ve found that the students are very quick to argue with me and with each other. Sometimes, we gotta move on," Levy said, "But I’d rather have that, than, [me] just talking and nobody really has any response to it, or to each other.”](https://www.tjtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Levy.png)